Evan I Therenane
Evan I was the thirteenth monarch of Dorio, and the first of the Therenane family. He was mainly known for ushering in the Therenane dynasty via the Belthion Succession War. Early life Evan was born to Ariana Eoline and an unknown father in 152 DR, and as a bastard from a minor noble house, was not expected to amount to much. However, Ariana often alleged that Evan's father was Dorio's King Albus II, and so Evan gradually made it his ambition to seek out Albus and present the information to him. Young adulthood Since the Eoline family was native to western Tristania, the costs were considerable to take Evan to Cantingvale, so he was forced to build a source of income to fund his trip. Thus, in 171, Evan attended a school of rhetoric, and got a teaching position there after his graduation in 176. For the next decade, Evan saved what money he could, and finally began his journey to Cantingvale in early 186. He took the surname "Therenane" at this time, supplanting the name Eoline. On 6 Rastheros, 186, Evan attended the royal court as a petitioner, and presented himself as Albus' son. Heirdom Albus saw Evan's claim as plausible, but was not entirely convinced, so he had comparative medical tests performed on Evan and him. The officials administering the test also found Albus and Evan to be likely relatives. Thus, close to a month after Evan's original claim, Albus declared Evan to officially be his son, and to follow Prince Herbert in the line of succession. In 189, Herbert had a son, Garrett; however, Albus did not retract the writ that named Evan heir, leading to much controversy among the Dorian court. Around this time, Evan also met and courted Andrea Bervick; in 188, they had a son, Benedict. Interestingly, although Garrett grew up to be resentful of Evan, he had no particular malice about Benedict. In 202, Albus died and Herbert became king. The next year, Herbert passed a motion that declared Evan to be behind Garrett and his descendants in the line of succession. Although Evan was enraged by this, he was powerless to stop it, and so he was forced to find employment through his wife's family's shipping company. This proved to be a fateful choice: when Rhen's Writ of Restriction was repealed in 213, the Bervicks were one of the first families to bring gunpowder into Dorio. Evan was intrigued by the new substance, and paid close attention to Dorio's use of gunpowder and artillery; thus, when Herbert died in 226, Evan was well prepared to press his claim against Garrett. Succession war and reign In the end, Garrett was never crowned; as he proceeded to the church where his coronation was set to take place, Evan and a coalition of his followers ambushed Garrett's party, marking the beginning of the Belthion Succession War. Due to both sides having a marked interest in gunpowder tactics, the war was bloody and dramatic, as the commanders experimented with various gunpowder-based weapons. Evan, however, was able to seize an advantage, when the Bervicks were able to monopolize the gunpowder trade and force the Belthions to deplete their supplies. In 229, Evan's forces captured and killed Garrett at the Battle of Great Nev; shortly afterward, Evan made his way to Cantingvale and was crowned. By this time very old, Evan died of natural causes after a three-year reign, where he accomplished little beyond the suppression of pro-Belthion revolts. Category:Dorians Category:Therenane Family Category:Monarchs